The Isle of Nephiram
by Link015
Summary: In the continent of Tellius, there were two species, the laguz and the beorc. And of the laguz, there were numerous races. People thought they knew them all. But...Was there one more race? And if so, where were they from?
1. Chapter 1: Exploration

Chris: Ahem, new story from me. Another PoR fic. And since I was in a "Vampires are cool!" mood, guess what I wrote. Yeah, that's right. A vampire fic, cause there are like…no vampire fics in the Fire Emblem section.

Disclaimer: Don't own Fire Emblem.

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**Chapter 1: Exploration**

_Throughout the whole history of Tellius, the laguz and the beorc have lived in relative peace. However, with the break-up between the laguz and the beorc in the nation of Begnion, conflict and strife have landed on the continent. The beorc set out to study and research the different type of laguz, to better prepare for the war that was sure to come. They spotted the bird tribes of Phoenicis and Kilvas. They studied the beast laguz in the nation of Gallia. Even the peaceful herons of Serenes Forest were not spared from their investigation. However, they missed one race of laguz._

_This one race, cut off from the rest of the world, lived on the Isle of Nephiram, off the coast of Gallia and Crimea. Nobody even knew that this special race lived in the world. This race saw the continent of Tellius and yearned to see what it was like there. This yearning, however, soon turned to lust and obsession. They plotted to begin an eventual control of the continent, for depriving them of all of its sights. And now, finally, they saw the path open for their takeover. The beorc and the laguz of the main continent had finally gone at war with each other. This would be the perfect time to introduce their presence to the other beings. And they would bow down to them._

_This race, this unknown race on the Isle of Nephiram, were called the night laguz. Like their name suggested, they did their best work at night, even though day didn't faze them at all. In their normal forms, the only difference you could tell between them and beorc is that small, sharp, pointed tail and the miniature wings on their back, as well as the tiny horns on the top of their head. However, in their true form, they became what people know as vampires. Strong in all ideas of magic, these laguz were physically weak and usually were not seen fighting with their claws and fangs. However, they possessed a few special abilities that were unique to them. _

_One was the ability to perform a quick hypnosis, which lasted for a short while. Second was the fact that in their true forms, and **only **in their true forms were they able to fly. Third was that they could shatter all of the battle energies within a laguz, forcing the foe to retreat back into normal form. And finally, the ability that set them apart from all other laguz was the fact that they were able to suck their opponent's blood. Technically, anyone could suck another's blood, but the night laguz had a special effect in theirs. If they drained enough blood from their victim and replaced a small portion with their own blood, the victim would become just like them. They would not be living, they would not be dead. They would just exist for the whim of their master, the one who transformed him/her. However, this ability is also draining on the night laguz itself and takes an enormous amount of time. In special situations, this ability would prove to be more useful that life itself…_

_  
---_

"Look at that land over there, Lankith. Soon, we will be controlling it all." A tall, sandy-haired man smiled at a shorter boy next to him, his smile showing small fangs. "In just a couple of moments, we'll be on their shores, ready to envelop them in a sea of black." He stretched slightly. "Are you excited?"

"You bet I am, sir Yeonis!" Lankith returned, mimicking his leader's grin. "Do you know where we are going to attack first?" He looked over the prow of the ship at the sunlit land in front of them. "I can't wait to take my first step on that continent!"

"Well, from what our King says, we'll be striking a small laguz village near the border of Gallia and Crimea." Yeonis smiled slightly. "I know what you're thinking. Why are we attacking laguz when we ourselves are laguz."

Lankith gulped. "You read my mind!" He gaped at his superior in surprise.

"Haha!" Yeonis chuckled. "Of course not. I only know because I asked our king the same thing."

"And what did he say?" Lankith looked at superior quizzically. "Surely there must be some logical reason behind all this."

"Well, the king said that because we ourselves are laguz, it would be easier to infiltrate a laguz settlement instead of a human settlement. You must admit, it does make sense." Yeonis sighed slightly. "Still, I feel uneasy about killing our fellow laguz."

"I agree…" Lankith returned, looking somber. "Actually, I'm really not sure whether or not I want to do this…"

"Hah! That's because you're a weakling, Lankith! You haven't even tamed your first slave yet!" A cynical laughter spread through the ship and Lankith turned, his long, crimson hair flying behind him.

"What do you want, Rakol?" Lankith shouted, his eyes narrowed. "I don't need to take your insults!"

"Of course you do!" Rakol, a tall, gruff, dark-haired boy sped up to Lankith, punching the small kid in the nose. "Don't mouth off to your betters! I already have three slaves and you don't have any!"

Lankith fell to the wooden planks, clutching his bleeding nose, tears of pain popping out of his eyes. Trying to stem the flow, he glared up at the bigger boy. "Don't be such a jerk, Rakol!"

The dark-haired laguz responded by kicking Lankith in the stomach. "You shut up!" Rakol tugged on a chain that was wrapped around his hand. "Hey slave! Come up here!"

A lithe, ragged looking girl stumbled forward. She looked at Rakol fearfully, struggling against the chains. Rakol walked up to his slave and kissed her roughly, before tossing her aside. Licking his lips thoughtfully, Rakol turned back to Lankith, who had struggled up, still clutching his nose. Grinning, the bigger boy rushed Lankith again, only to be stopped by Yeonis.

"Don't lay another hand upon my student." Yeonis warned, looking down at the dark-haired vampire. "Go down with your slave and satisfy your sick desires some other way."

Rakol spat at Yeonis before doing as the older man ordered. Yeonis looked distastefully at the bully before turning and examining Lankith. His eyes softened as he cradled his young apprentice. "Are you okay, Lankith?"

"Y-Yeah…" He mumbled, feeling that the blood had finally stopped flowing from his nose. "I…I better get washed." He smiled half-heartedly. "Don't want to be in a battle looking like I was already wounded."

"That's the spirit!" Yeonis patted Lankith on the back. "But…Do you think you will…take a slave in this raid?"

"I…I don't know…" Lankith muttered. "I feel uneasy thinking about it…Maybe…" He stumbled towards the sick room of the ship, intent on cleaning his blood-caked nose. Yeonis watched his apprentice carefully.

"If you want the bullies to stop…You're going to have to act tougher…" Yeonis said thoughtfully, looking at the land in front of them. "Soon…We will attack." Yeonis smiled, images of control and slaughter resounding in his mind.

_---_

"Melissa! Can you please bring in the laundry?"

"Yes, mother!" Melissa, a young, cat-girl with deep brown hair smiled cheerfully as she bent over the wicker basket she used to carry the laundry with. As she pulled down the clothing from the clothesline, she sniffed appreciatively at the different, pleasant scents that were wafting in. "It's such a beautiful day today…"

As she took down the last piece of clothing, however, a new scent drifted across her sensitive nose. It was different, entrancing, and slightly disturbing as well. She had never smelt something like this before. Rushing back inside her small house, Melissa dumped the laundry on the floor. "Mom, do you smell that?"

"Yes, I do, Melissa…" Her mother sniffed the air again. "I don't like this…Melissa, go find someplace to hide. This isn't a beorc smell…But it still is dangerous."

"But mom, I can fight!" Melissa protested. "You know that as well as I do!"

"Listen, dear…" Melissa's mother kneeled down and grasped her daughter by the shoulders. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I can't bear thinking about what would happen if you were to die."

"O-Okay, mom…" Melissa sniffed and ran off somewhere to hide.

Confident that her daughter would be fine, Melissa's mother rushed out to face this new danger.

_---_

Lankith looked down at the village before him. Apparently, the laguz villagers were ready for them. They stood at the shoreline menacingly, glaring at the ship that dared approach their homes. Lankith gulped. It wasn't that he was afraid, but he didn't really like fighting all that much. He knew it was that attitude that branded him easy pickings by bullies like Rakol, but he couldn't help it. Bloodshed wasn't his department, which is why he honed on his hypnosis powers more than his strength.

The ship finally docked at the shoreline as the night laguz disembarked. To be frank, it didn't look that good for the vampires. Since they were just a exploration group, their numbers totaled around fifty. However, the village laguz that faced them were somewhere in the hundreds. Lankith gulped again. He wasn't sure if they were going to win this fight.

"What do you want, visitors?" A male laguz, apparently the mayor of the village, stepped up. "We have never seen the likes of you before!"

"And you won't ever see us again!" Rakol yelled as the energies of battle flooded his veins and he transformed into his true shape. All around him, other battle-loving laguz transformed and attacked.

The laguz from the village were caught off guard by the sudden attack and the revelation that their attackers were laguz as well. However, thanks to their quick reflexes, some were able to transform in time and avoid the surprise attack. Lankith joined in the fighting, even though he was only in his normal form. The battle energies did not flow to him as well as they flowed to others, and he would have to wait before he could transform.

'…_I don't want to do this…'_ Lankith thought to himself as he finally felt his blood charge with power. Screaming, he tossed his head back as his wings exploded into their true forms, majestic and mysterious. His fangs grew deep and his nails extended to claws. His eyes flickering, he turned and grabbed a random enemy by the shoulder. "Look into my eyes!"

The person he was holding suddenly went limp, controlled by the mesmerizing gaze of Lankith. The crimson-haired vampire drove his claws deep into the laguz's stomach and withdrew it, causing a fountain of blood to burst on his clothes. Grimacing, he turned to find another target.

A giant cat leaped at his throat, no doubt intent on ripping his throat out. Lankith flew to the side, dodging the attack. He lashed out with his claws, scratching the giant beast on the side. However, his attack barely fazed the creature, who only turned and bit down on Lankith's arm, causing the young vampire to scream in pain. He ripped his arm out of the cat's teeth, feeling the flesh tear off of his arm.

Feeling anger and rage well up inside of him, he glared at the cat. "Look into my eyes!" The cat fell for the trap and froze. Lankith brought up his uninjured hand to stab his claws right into the cat's eyes, but someone else killed the beast laguz first. Feeling anger well up in his heart again, he saw the person who had stolen his rightful kill. "Rakol, you bastard!"

"If you can't kill them, don't even bother fighting!" Rakol returned, scowling. Lankith spat at him before returning to the battle, ignoring his bleeding arm. Since he was a creature who practically harvested blood for a living, he could live without blood for a short amount of time. Certainly, he would have to have his arm healed, but that could wait.

The crimson-haired vampire looked for another victim. Unfortunately, it looked like everyone was already occupied. A couple of the vampires had fallen, but the vampires had taken a heavy toll on the beast laguz because of their surprise attack and now the numbers were almost even. Lankith decided to raid one of the houses to see if he could find some sort of medicine for his throbbing arm.

When he opened the door, he was suddenly tackled by a long, brown-haired, brown-eared girl. The girl brought her hands closer on Lankith's throat and he hurriedly kicked her off of him.

"Stay away from me!" Lankith shouted, his crystal-blue eyes wide open. "Listen, I don't want to fight! I just want to get medicine!"

"Too bad! I'm tired of hiding all the time!" The girl shouted, her arms becoming legs and her hands turning into palms. In a couple of seconds, a lithe, brown-furred cat stood in front of him, hissing angrily.

"I don't have the patience for this! I don't want to fight!" Lankith retorted, his patience nearing a minimum. The cat didn't listen to him and leaped at his stomach.

Screaming angrily, Lankith gathered his own battle energies in his hand and shoved it at the cat. It passed through her body and exploded through the other side, draining the cat of any excess battle energy she might have possessed. She toppled to the floor, quickly changing back into a human form. Lankith sighed as he felt himself change as well.

"How…How did you do that?" The girl whispered, her shining, yellow eyes wide.

"It's just something I can do." Lankith said angrily, searching for some sort of balm for his wounded arm. "Let me just get some medicine and I'll leave you alone!"

"Hey look! Lankith's found a girl!" Rakol shouted, pointing to the crimson-haired boy. He quickly dispatched the laguz he was fighting and walked over to Lankith, smirking. "Come on, hand her over. I can always use another slave!"

"Hold it!" Yeonis rushed over to Lankith's side. "He found her first. He has first claim on any people he might wish to change!"

Rakol laughed and spat on the ground. "Lankith? Convert someone? Hah! Don't make me laugh! He would never do something like that!"

Lankith looked frantically between the fallen girl in front of him to Rakol and Yeonis. Rakol was smirking with his arms folded and Yeonis was nodded slightly, looking concernedly at Lankith. The girl looked at Lankith, frightened.

"He doesn't have the guts! Come on, Lankith! Don't keep me waiting! I'm going to have some fun with her!" Rakol crowed.

Lankith gulped and looked at the cat-eared girl in front of him. "Um…I'm sorry…But…I…I have to…" He looked back at Rakol before turning back to her.

"Wha? N-No…" She crawled backwards, fright rampant across her features. "I don't know what you're planning, but I won't let you do it!"

"You have no choice…" Lankith sighed and looked at the cat-girl. "Look into my eyes!"

The girl froze, entranced by Lankith's eyes. She remained motionless, shuddering slightly as she tried to break from the vampire's gaze. "W-W-What….What is…is this? I…I can't…I can't move…"

Lankith walked towards the female laguz. "Just don't do anything." He kneeled next to her. "I…I don't want to do this myself. But I have to." He gingerly held the spellbound girl, looking deeply into her eyes. "Please forgive me."

The girl just stared at him, unable to move. However, Lankith could notice that she was shivering a lot and was suppressing the desire to break out in tears. Sighing at what he had to do next; Lankith ran a hand across her smooth neck and captured her lips in a kiss. The girl gave a small gasp of surprise, still unable to move.

'_Please forgive me.'_ Lankith moved lower and lightly kissed the girl's neck. Next, he brought out his fangs and with careful precision, tore into the girl's throat and slowly, gently, drank her silky, succulent blood.

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Chris: Well, there you go. Hope you liked it and if not…I dunno, go bitch about it in a review. Anyway, review please and good luck! And I don't know about the update time for this. I like the idea, but I dunno if I'll have enough time to update consistently.


	2. Chapter 2: Discovery

Chris: Thanks to the FanFiction admins' new and devious move, I am forbidden to do reader reviews. They have replaced it with a function that is bulky, unneeded, and annoying. As such, and because I am lazy, I will not be doing reader reviews anymore. Only on FictionPress because they haven't enacted any rules on that yet.

Disclaimer: Don't own Fire Emblem. All OCs are mine and so are the night laguz. They will own your soul!

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**Chapter 2: Discovery**

"_Where…What happened?'_ Melissa gave a small groan and turned slightly. _'Why…Why do I feel so strange…?'_ Her eyes slowly slid open and the cat laguz stretched slightly. _'I'm kind of hungry…'_ She pushed herself up into a sitting position and took in the scene in front of her. Her gaze halted at the sight of a young boy of around average height with blood-crimson hair.

He smiled weakly at her, raising a hand to greet her. "Hey."

Suddenly, all the events that happened earlier flooded back into her mind and she was filled with primal rage. Shrieking slightly, she jumped at the boy, only to halt right as she was about to wrap her fingers around his throat. Grunting with exertion, the brown-haired girl pushed, but was unable to strangle the life out of the kid.

"Please…Stop trying. It's a waste of energy." The kid said forlornly, waving her off. "I'm certain that no matter what you do, you will be unable to harm me." He looked at her, his eyes filled with sorrow. "Trust me, I didn't want this to happen either…"

"I don't believe you! How could you just kill everyone?" Melissa shouted, her eyes brimming with tears. "I don't care what you say! I'll find a way to destroy you!"

"Go ahead." The kid shrugged. "The ceremony I preformed should have protected me from any action against me on your part." He gave a small sigh and plopped onto the sandy ground. "If you had only let me get the medicine…This wouldn't have happened."

"What else was I supposed to do? You burst into my house, bleeding, in the middle of an attack! You expect me to greet you with tea and cookies?" Melissa retorted, her teeth bared in frustration. It was then that she noticed that her canines were sharper and longer than usual. "What happened to my teeth?"

"What do you think happened?" The crimson-haired laguz returned sarcastically. "If you would just stop trying to kill me for a second, maybe I could explain."

"Hmph, fine." Melissa settled back to listen to this kid's explanation. "So, what happened?"

"May I have the pleasure of your name first? I…would like to know, considering what I did."

"It's Melissa Young."

"Nice name." The kid commented offhandedly. "My name is Lankith Heyan. Anyway, as for the reason as to why we were there, it is our destiny to rule your land." He looked to the side, his face shadowed. "We were supposed to kill everyone who resisted."

"What else were we supposed to do? You just came on our land and started attacking! That wasn't even an honorable or fair fight! How do you get off saying that it's your destiny? You sound just like one of those miserable beorc!" Melissa shouted, her eyes wide and blazing.

Lankith cringed, his crimson-haired shielding his eyes. "…I…I never liked this myself…But it is as our king ordered and we need to follow his orders." He slumped slightly. "I'm not saying we're right…But it's what we're doing."

Melissa softened at the sight of his dejected figure and she crept forward slightly. Lankith noticed her movement and looked away, trying not to meet her gaze.

"And…As for where we are…We're in your village. Nobody was left alive." Lankith moved away from Melissa, looking at the ground. "I'm…sorry."

Melissa felt the blow strike her in the heart. She expected it once she had awoken, but still, it hurt so much that all of her friends and family were now dead. It hurt a lot…

"As for what happened to you…You are now my slave." Lankith muttered. "I had no choice."

"What do you mean, 'slave'?" Melissa asked, confused.

"When I bit you and drained you of a portion of your blood, in order to stop a scumbag like Rakol make you _his_ slave, I…uh…I made you mine by cutting myself and letting my own blood be absorbed into your own." Lankith mumbled, looking at a long scar on his arm.

"So…What am I?" Melissa asked, drawn forward by some sort of horrid fascination. "Am I…Am I someone like you?"

"No, not exactly." Lankith sighed, brushed back some of his crimson hair. "You are still a beast laguz. You will still transform into a cat. All that's different is that your so-called fangs are longer and sharper and your skin is a slight shade lighter. You might think that blood is tastier to you. And…since it is my blood that is coursing through your veins, there is some force that stops you from killing me or attacking me. And…if I wanted to, you would be forced to follow all of my commands." He looked at her and a small spark of lust flashed through his eyes. However, he quickly masked it and looked away.

"What…What are you going to make me do?" Melissa asked, becoming frightened as images of rape and beatings ran through her mind. "Please…Please…"

"Me? I'm not going to do anything. I didn't want this to happen." Lankith muttered angrily. "If it wasn't for that jerk, Rakol, none of this would have happened. None of this!" He slammed his fist into the ground. "Why did I have to do this?"

"Lankith…"

"I'm going out. Don't follow me and just stay here. I don't want anything to happen to you. Now that you're my slave, I better protect my property." Lankith whispered, saying the last part sarcastically. He pushed the wooden door open and stepped into the moonlight, sighing. Shaking his head angrily, he stomped outside.

Melissa watched him leave. Well, since he wasn't watching her, this was the perfect opportunity to escape! After all, he wasn't watching her now and he never said anything about the transformation prohibiting her from leaving. Grinning slightly to herself, she looked around for a back door and found it, nestled on the back corner. Taking care to not alert anyone to her plan, she tiptoed to the door and pulled it open. And squeaked in surprise as she found a tall, sandy-haired man blocking her way. The man smiled briefly before pushing her back inside the house and stepping inside.

"H-Hey!" Melissa shouted half-heartedly. "I-I'm Lankith's partner, so you shouldn't block my way!" At her words, however, the man only smiled.

"I know. I'm Yeonis Bright, and I'm Lankith's teacher." He folded his arms and grinned. "I suppose you are that girl we found Lankith crouched over?"

"S-So what of it?" Melissa said bravely, but inside she was shaking. This laguz seemed much stronger than Lankith and she was afraid of what else he could do, especially since she had seen the power of Lankith's hypnosis.

"Listen, girl. I don't know your name, and by all rights, I don't want to, since Lankith is your master, but just sit down and don't bother trying to escape." Yeonis brushed back some of his short-cut hair and sighed. "It was bad enough for the kid to be forced to take a slave. Don't make him feel worse by trying to escape and getting killed."

"W-What do you mean?" Melissa stuttered, her eyes wide.

"Lankith isn't highly respected in our communities. He's not a fighter, nor does he want to be. He is excited about the prospect of attacking your country, but that has to do more with the fact that we'll be setting foot on your continent and we'll be seeing new things. He is not the fighting type, which is why his hypnosis is so strong. He trained on that more than any of his fighting skills. I assume it took a lot of energy for you just to speak?"

Melissa nodded soundlessly. "That was…the hypnosis?"

Yeonis nodded. "Yep. At hypnosis, there is none that beat Lankith. However, it's often considered a weak art, which only depends the lack of respect other night laguz have for him."

"Night laguz?"

"That's what we call ourselves. While you are a member of the beast laguz, I am a member of the night laguz." Yeonis bowed slightly. "Now, about your thought of escape. You are the first slave that Lankith has taken in the twenty or so beorc years that he has lived. And in that lifetime, we have been in around one hundred battles, all of which we had a chance to take slaves. Lankith never participated in such ceremonies. It was a vow of his to never change someone and make her his slave."

"I…see…Then why did he change me…into this?" Melissa opened her mouth, pointing to the fangs. "Why did he do that? This feeling is horrible! Everyone I knew is either dead or taken to be one of your slaves! I have this deep desire to drink the blood on the ground! My skin is almost as pale as death! Why did he do this to me?"

"Well, would you rather have had that other person take you as his slave? Rakol?"

"What makes you so certain he wouldn't have killed me?" Melissa retorted.

"Rakol, by last count, has had up to fifty slaves. At the moment, only five are alive. That bastard loves getting his hands on any new female that crosses his path and he is anything but kind to the people he converts. Trust me, Lankith undertook the ritual and broke his vow only so that he might save you from a horrible existence." Yeonis said.

"And now that you have been informed, I will take my leave. If you still wish to leave, be my guest. Let me just warn you that not all night laguz are as kind as Lankith and now that you have already been transformed, no one would hesitate to kill you." Yeonis bowed again. "Good luck and don't be too harsh on my student. He could use a friend. Who knows? Maybe you will be it."

"…" Melissa plopped on the ground, thoughts running rampant through her mind. These new revelations had impacted her decision to leave and now she decided it would be a smarter move to just stay with Lankith, even though she still wasn't too happy about the situation. _'…It's not fair…I feel pity for him…Yet I feel immense anger…What am I supposed to do?'_

Lankith returned to the house, holding a couple of packages. He looked at Melissa, nonplussed. "Oh…You're still here."

"Where did you think I would go?" Melissa said, stretching.

"I thought that you would have wanted to leave. After all, you don't have to stay here." Lankith dumped the packages on the ground and looked at Melissa, his face emotionless. "There's food in there. If you're hungry, well, there you go." He sighed, and then turned back to the door. "I'm going for a walk." He stayed behind to see if Melissa would to anything. When she didn't move, Lankith bowed his head and walked outside into the night.

The crimson-haired vampire looked around. The destroyed village was slowly being rebuilt by the night laguz, using the ruins as their first base camp for the invasion of the continent. Minute by minute, more of his race landed, gathering in this small point for a war that would change the face of the earth. Lankith looked at the sky. He had thought that this place would hold a lot more mystery that his home. But it was all the same. The same trees, the same sky, the same dirt…Nothing was new.

'_Damn girl…If it wasn't for her…'_ Lankith thought angrily as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his brown trousers. Every time he looked at Melissa, it made him angry and depressed. She symbolized things that he hated. She had caused him to break his vow and now that she was a slave, he felt as if he had become as bad as everyone around him. It wouldn't be long before he was like Rakol, doing anything he wanted and reveling in the destruction of battle.

At the beginning, he held a faint hope that somehow, he would find a way out of this and restore her to normal. But, searching the texts that they had brought with them, there seemed to be no way whatsoever to change a converted person back to normal. Granted, he was the only one who had thought of such a thing, so it was typical that there would be no research on the matter.

"Sigh…Well, I should at least take care of her…I dragged her into this, even though I didn't want to." Lankith looked at the ground, his crimson hair hanging like dried strands of blood in the dark night. "Heh, some walk." He turned and walked back inside of the house, only to see Melissa crouched over the bag, looking at the various goodies inside. When he saw her, he felt a flash of anger. It wasn't fair…Not at all…

"Oh, hey Lankith." Melissa whispered as she pulled out a small hunk of meat which was still raw. "Would you mind if I cooked this?"

'_Yes, I would mind.'_ Lankith thought miserably. He had gotten that for himself. Taking that wound in the arm had made him lose more blood than normal and the whole conversion didn't do anything to help matters. He was thirsty for blood and he would have enjoyed tearing into that fat piece of beef. But he nodded. "Go ahead. Who am I to stop you?"

"You do. You _are_ my master, aren't you? I'm your slave." Melissa said matter-of-factly.

"…I don't have a slave…" Lankith mumbled as he fell on a ragged sofa nearby. "I never had a slave…" He closed his eyes and Melissa was surprised to see that he was crying slightly. She looked at him sorrowfully before turning and walking towards the kitchen, saying nothing.

Melissa pulled a clean from a rack in the kitchen and placed the slab of meat on it. Surprisingly enough, the kitchen seemed to be in good condition, showing no signs of the chaos that had happened earlier. Lighting a small fire in the oven, she unwrapped the raw meat and placed it on an iron skillet. Sprinkling on some herbs and sauce that she had found in the cupboards, she slid it in the oven and waited. While she was thinking, a crazy idea came to her. The curse of the blood prohibited her from killing Lankith…But it didn't prohibit her from killing herself, right? So…If she were to kill herself, Lankith wouldn't have to worry about breaking his oath and she could return to where her friends and family were.

'_Yeah…I could…do that.'_ Melissa looked around for a sharp knife and found one. She was all set to do the deed when she decided to tell Lankith first. No need for him to go crazy wondering why she had killed herself. She walked back to the living room and found Lankith still sprawled on the couch, his eyes closed. She kneeled next to him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

Lankith's eyes snapped open and he stared at Melissa for a while. "What is it?"

"Lankith…You don't want me around, do you?" The brown-haired cat laguz whispered. "I mean…you never wanted this to happen."

Lankith stared at her, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, he shook his head. "No…I didn't."

"Then…" Melissa pulled out the knife. "If I were to kill myself…You would be able to live without me, right?"

Lankith stared at the knife blade, which shined in the silver moonlight. Slowly, he nodded. "Yes…I would."

"Then, the solution is easy. I just have to kill myself. That way, I can be with my friends and you won't have to see me anymore." Melissa smiled slightly. She raised the knife to the location on her neck where Lankith had bitten her. "I think this would be a good place." She brought the blade closer to the wound, smiling slightly. "Besides, what do I have to look for here?"

Lankith frowned. "Melissa, stop. That's an order."

"What are you saying?" Melissa cried as she struggled to slash the blade across her neck. "Why are you stopping me? I thought you didn't want me around!" She tried with all her might to kill herself, but her hand wouldn't move.

"Melissa, drop the knife. Now."

Melissa's hand opened and the knife clattered to the floor. She looked at the weapon pleadingly, as if willing it to kill her. She turned tearful eyes towards Lankith, who picked up the knife and threw it away. The crimson-haired laguz kneeled in front of Melissa, gazing at her emotionlessly.

"Just because I didn't want this to happen doesn't mean I want you to die. I already made you into my slave; I might as well live with it." Lankith sighed. "So that means no trying to kill yourself. I'll know if you do."

"B-But…What am I supposed to do?" Melissa said, her voice becoming hysterical. "I-I mean…You can make me do anything! What if…What if you…You know!"

Lankith smiled mirthlessly. "I would never dream of doing something like forcing you to have sex with me. That's Rakol's department, not mine. No…The only thing I would force you to do is to not do anything stupid like committing suicide."

Melissa flushed slightly, embarrassed. She looked down at the ground. "So…Then what will I do?"

"I don't know. You'll have to stay with me. I'd rather not have something happen to you." Lankith grinned. "Now that I think about it…In terms of looks, I was pretty lucky with the girl I had to convert. Personality too."

Melissa blushed, her eyes widening. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." Lankith mumbled. "Anyway, you can just travel with me. Don't worry about me doing anything master-like. Just when some of the other night laguz are around, I might have to treat you as a real slave. Other than that, you're just the same as me." He sniffed the air and winced. "Oh…And hate to tell you, but your food burned."

"WHAT?" Melissa shrieked and leaped towards the kitchen. "Oh, no! Not good!"

Lankith smirked. He still didn't like it, but maybe he could get used to the situation.

* * *

Chris: Well, hope you enjoyed it! Review please! Oh, and even if I don't get a lot of reviews, I'm still gonna continue this cause I like the idea. Besides, vampires are awesome. 


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